Friday, October 28, 2011

﻿Ending not with a bang, but not exactly a whimper either, R.E.M.'s breakup last month wasn't that surprising, as the band had seemed to be on autopilot in recent years, but it nevertheless marked the end of one of the most remarkable careers in rock history. To celebrate that career, Network Awesome asked me to write a companion piece to their excellent featured video, an entire 1982 live show from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

It's always a pleasure when anyone from Wu-Tang Clan comes to town, and Method Man proved to be no exception. It's also always a pleasure when rap at The Rave doesn't sound like a badly miked garbage disposal, and that also happened!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

My latest contribution to Network Awesome, 1938's The Terror of Tiny Townhas the somewhat dubious distinction of being the only western starring nothing but little people. The gimmick reportedly inspired by producer Jed Buell overhearing a crew member saying, "If this economy doesn't turn around, we'll have to start making pictures with midgets", has transformed a rather humdrum western into a trash cinema classic. Buell hoped the concept would catch on and, although it was sadly never produced, had begun work on his next feature, an adaptation of the Paul Bunyon tall tales with a normal sized man playing the giant among little people.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

In advance of the 24th annual Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival (Starting tonight at the Oriental Theatre!), the AV Club Milwaukee asked me to sit down with long-time festival programmer Carl Bogner to talk about media representations of LGBT characters and, of course, the festivals impressively diverse lineup of films.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

I can think of few people more deserving of a feature length documentary portrait than Genesis P-Orridge. From his early extreme performance pieces in COUM Transmissions through his groundbreaking work with Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, P-Orridge has lived his life like it was all one big daring art project. He was able to take this idea to the extreme with the help of his wife, Lady Jaye, with whom he embarked on a new endeavor, attempting to become as close to each other as possible, with end goal of becoming one being of a new gender known as Breyer P-Orridge. Through surgery and dress, the pair came to resemble each other to a remarkable degree, the living embodiment of a devoted, all-encompassing relationship, which in some sense is still going on despite Jaye's tragic death in 2007.

It is this amazing bond that is the focus of Marie Losier's moving new documentary The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye. Known for her experimental portraits, mainly of other filmmakers, Losier combines performance art and archival footage with intimate, home video style recordings of their loving domestic life. Of course, in the basement of this happy home is a looming reminder that this isn't just any couple, but rather a pair of restlessly creative provocateurs, the legacy of which stretches back decades. This reminder comes in the form of a huge, meticulously maintained archive. Genesis guides a tour through the "ephemera", as he calls it, of a singular life in the arts, including posters, recordings, press clippings and souveniers of his friendship with William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin. Losier does a good job of capturing the essence of the Breyer P-Orridge exploratory approach to creativity, from his invention, with Throbbing Gristle, of industrial music to their more recent concert and book projects. It should also come as no surprise that the soundtrack is impeccable.

Overall, it's a memorable and stylish film. The performance art aspects of it occasionally fall flat, but most of them are tackled with humor and verve, and Losier finds a good balance between biography and performance. It's perfect for anyone interested in gender politics or challenging modern music, but you don't have to bring anything to the table really, the power of the personalities (personality?) should be enough to ensnare any openminded viewer.

Monday, October 17, 2011

As part of the ongoing celebration of the Cactus Club's 15th anniversary, Tokyo's Melt-Banana and completely brought the house down with their indescribable noise-punk. It would have been a perfect show were it not for a handful of goons who thought pushing people around was cool and not at all horribly obnoxious.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

One of the greatest bands never to release a record, The Screamers made a name for themselves among the early L.A. punk scene, pioneering, along with Suicide on the other side of the country in New York, the synth-punk genre. Based around the core duo of Tomata Du Plenty and Tommy Gear, the group forsook guitars for synthesizers, and although a studio album never materialized, there are several live shows and demos floating around on bootleg.

The fourth album by 1960s teen sensation Lesley Gore (of "It's My Party" fame), Girl Talk, like many albums of the era, splits its runtime between upbeat pop and down tempo sentimentality. In this case, some of those ballads are rather forgettable, although by no means bad. The real attraction is the swinging girl group pop, perhaps best exemplified by the album opener "Hey Now".

Just one of hundreds of Ventures releases over the years, The Ventures Play Telstar and The Lonely Bull, stands out not because of its style, which is the kind of clean rock instrumentals you'd expect from the group, but because of the quality of the selections they cover, which include 'Green Onions", the space-age "Telstar" and rather wonderful version of "Apache", years before it would become a hit for the Incredible Bongo Band and a foundational hip-hop sample.

Glad to have picked these up, I've definitely got a soft spot for this era of popular music, which seemed to effortlessly straddle rock, R&B, surf and Tin Pan Alley. I think this new job is going to work out just fine.

Even at 74 years old, Dick Dale shows no signs of slowing down. The inventor of surf music still tours heavily, spreading his twangy, reverb-heavy gospel. Stopping by Shank Hall on Sunday, Dale found an adoring crowd, a timid soundman, and of course, a whole lot of tumbling instrumentals.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

As one of the most vibrant, diverse and, yes, sometimes troubled Milwaukee neighborhoods, Riverwest has always had a strong sense of community. In an effort to enhance that sense, there is an initiative underway to establish a low-power radio station to act as the voice of the area. I sat down with Karen Brooks, the founder of the initiative, to get the details of the project and find out, what exactly can community radio do for this unique Milwaukee area?

One of Jean-Luc Godard's most loved features, Pierrot le Fou(1965), is a stylish, percolating film, full of heady ideas, humor and swaths of bright color. Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina, Pierrot le Fou follows a pair of reunited former lovers, who go on the run from the law, gun-running Algerians and themselves. As part of their week-long tribute to Godard's work, Network Awesome asked me to dig a little deeper into the film, and create a companion piece to accompany their screening.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Another show I curated for Network Awesome, the delightfully absurd On the Air, created by David Lynch and Mark Frost for ABC in 1992. After the unexpected success of the mysterious drama Twin Peaks, Lynch and Frost set their sights on the sitcom format, coming up with the whacked out behind-the-scenes hijinks of the cast and crew of the fictional Lester Guy Show. Seven episodes were filmed, but only three were broadcast, and the program remains hard to find to this day. Enjoy!

Saturday, October 1, 2011

When Superman burst into the American cultural consciousness in 1938, his popularity was immediate and startling in its fervor. The man of steel became an icon almost overnight, Harry Donenfeld and DC Comics did what any self-respecting business would do; they exploited the fuck out of their new smash character, leading to an advertising and merchandising bonanza which continues to this day. This collection of decades worth of commercials and PSA's, curated for Network Awesome, demonstrates that beyond being a myth and an icon and a hero, Superman is also an accomplished salesman.